BLOODSHED ON THE RAND.

Northern Advocate, 5 September 1913, Page 2

BLOODSHED ON THE RAND.

STRIKERS AND VIOLENCE

FIRE, SWORD, AND RIOT

The story of the riots at Johannesburg, riots which began in a miners' strike and ended in the death of several men and the wounding of nearly fifty more, comes in the South African papers by the Aberdeen S.S. Company's Themistocles, which arrived in Melbourne recently. All the bad features of a foreign strike marked the outbreak from the very beginning. Sabotage and the kicking of loyal workmen into unconsciousness, the stoning of the police, the looting of shops, the hurried movements of troops to the goldfields, the defiance and stoning and shooting of the soldiery, and very reluctantly the volley which drove the mob from the streets, and the clatter of mounted men keeping it on the run—these were the stages of the trouble, and out of all this, almost miraculously, in one day, came peace. The first victim of that universal brotherhood of Avorkers which has caused so much trouble in the past, and will again, was an amalgamator named Mcßeth. The men were out on strike, and angry, inflamed by agitators, and joined by that large halfcriminal and wholly criminal population which one finds in the chief gold centre of the Rand. Mcßeth, employed at the Van Ryn mine, remained at work with the rest of the reduction men. The mill was not crushing, and the staff was merely standing by tending the battery. Mcßeth was mounting a bicycle in Market Street when one of the strikers knocked him down. The crowd rushed in, yelling, "Put the boot in!" and the victim was badly kicked before his escape, which was effected by a dash into a store, a quick scramble over the fence, and a race down Swan Street, with a foaming mob of "comrades" and "brothers" at his heels. He reached the police station, and here his wounds were dressed, and he was put to bed The crowd returned to Market Street and, led by two women, destroyed a cartload of furniture on the way to the Van Ryn mine. An auctioneer "sold" a damaged piano for 10/ to a man, who presented it forthwith to a crowd of boys, who in turn built a bonfire of the fragments in Market Square. The police were helpless, and before aid was torth- ! coming, the damage was done, and the crowd dispersed, the ashes of the burnt piano flying from under the mounted constables' feet as they came across the square. One scene of violence followed another, and another of the Van Ryn reduction staff, a man named Doubtfire was brutally attacked; and Mr Cross, the chief engineer of the Kleinfontein group, and two fitters, under escort of the ScotsFuslliers, ventured out into Wilstead Street to effect some repairs to some electric standards which had been injured by an explosion (caused by the strikers) the previous night (July 3). A huge crowd of sightsers and strikers congregated, and road metal was showered on the workmen and Mr Cross. Under this fire all three received injuries, and a rush was made, one of the fitters being knocked and kicked into unconsciousness. He was halfcarried, half-dragged by two soldiers into the mine buildings. During the stone-throwing a soldier was stunned by a stone hitting him on the temple. He was picked up by the strikers, who apologised profusely, explaining that the "scabs" were the only people they wished to stun. The second fit-

ter was also rendered insensible. The Fusiliers brought their bayonets to the charge and cleared their immediate neighbourhood, holding the mob back, and under the cover of steel the working party withdrew — or, rather, was carried away. On the same day two strike-breakers were attacked, and after the usual course of fist and boot, their clothes were stripped from them and burnt. One of these men, who had a revolver, fired a few ineffectual shots at his pursuers. Then the police arrived, too late again, and saw the last of the clothes go up in smoke in Main Street. Other minor acts of lawlessness succeeded throughout that day and the following night.

The culmination came on the next day (July 5). A huge meeting of over 5000 people, strikers and their sympathisers, met in Market Square and, on the condition that they would "try and pacify them," the strike leaders were allowed to address this gathering. The "pacification" was of that kind which might be' likened to the pouring of oil upon a fire, and as the crowd grew hot under the harangues of its leaders the police and cavalry drove the meeting to the sides of the street and out of the square. Stones and bottles were thrown at the police and the dragoons, and a few revolver shots fired. Then came the attack on Corner House, the Werhner, Beit headquarters. The police resisted the attack, and soon the air was alive with bullets. Finding the position becoming intolerable, the police, having thrice warned the crowd, replied with a volley of rifle fire, and the dragoons coming up on the flank of the crowd, drove it with beatings from the flat of their sabres, into a wild rush for safety. One man was knocked down in the rush and taken out dead after the crowd had passed over him.

Meanwhile the mob had taken the Park Railway Station, and refused to allow the trains, mainly full of terrified women and children, to leave. Another battle with the police and troops occurred here, and in the smoke of the burning station buildings, fired by the rioters, the mob was dispersed after a fusilade of shots. The "Star" newspaper office was set afire, and the mob drove back the brigade which came to save it.

After the firing of the police opposite Corner House, the mob betook itself to general rioting in Commissioner Street. The more desperate spirits scattered in small bands about the town, and broke windows valued at thousands of pounds, snatching the exposed goods. Dynamite was thrown into the shop of Messrs Chudleigh, and £2000 worth of damage done. The gunsmiths' shops were looted for weapons. The premises of Mr A. P. Walshe, in President Street, were entered, and £1000 worth of rifles, revolvers and ammunition taken by the mob. The shop of Schimmel Bros., at the corner of Loveday Street and President Street, was also attacked and broken into, and also that of Mr G. R. Perrins, in Market Street, and from both these places arms and ammunition were stolen. Galvanised iron defences had been erected around the premises of Mr Leslie Simpson, Aegis Buildings, but the crowd got through and stole about £800 worth of weapons, despite the fact that Mr Store, the manager, blazed away at the intruders from the inside of the store. The continual firing gave the crowd the impression that the police had arrived by the back way, and the. rioters drew off with their captured arms. Advantage of the outbreak was also taken to rob the jewellers.

With the captured arms, the police were fired upon in all directions, and the dragoons, split into detachments, kept charging the various centres of unrest in an attempt to keep the rioters on the move. In Market Street and President Street the tumult rose to the dignity of battle. Rioters, armed with looted weapons, gained some of the houses, and shot from windows and roofs upon the troops and police, and others, driven by the volleys of the troops irom the streets, lurked behind corners, and shot steadily. The worst feature of it was that these persons who were not the sufferers in the return fire, since they kept, hidden, but those who were shot were, it was found later, n,ot often of the type of citizen who would be missed —convicted thieves, criminal half-castes, and chronic loafers being amongst the harvest of the troops' shooting. The flames from the burning station and the Star Office lit up the city, and, in this fair shooting light it is a matter for surprise that not more were killed and wounded. Four men were shot dead in the attack on Corner House, and two more later on in the night. A number of others died later from their wounds. Had the troops not exercised almost superhuman restraint, the casualties must have been very much heavier, for volleys at close range must have caused terrific slaughter. But. most of the volley fire was directed over the heads of the rioters.

The greatest mortality was that which occurred in the attack on the Rand Club. Here ten men were killed outright, and the battle was a deliberate shooting duel, the antagonists taking cover and lying to fire as though on a range. Strikers deliberately walked across a line to pass which it was understood would incur death, and were shot down by the soldiers, each time after warnings. Throughout the whole riot no less than 20 men were shot dead, and nearly 200 wounded, some of those so badly that they died during the following day or two.

And suddenly, out of all this carnage, came peace. The rifles were hardly cold before the men's leaders, amidst cries "You've been bought!" "How much did they pay you?" announced that terms of settement had been agreed to, and nothing was left but to bury the dead.